Finance Intern Review

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of Tesco, the culture surprised me how relaxed and non-hierarchical the company is, as I found myself sitting with senior managers from the beginning, but everyone was so friendly I had no idea how senior they were! I enjoyed my project work in the beginning - the first few weeks required a steep learning curve, but I enjoyed getting to know the people and area of the business I was placed in within Finance. However, I finished my project at the end of week 3, way ahead of schedule (mine had a conclusive end point, whereas other interns had projects that were ongoing), and I then found myself feeling like a burden on my manager, who would attempt to find me useful things to do daily, but I often found that I would complete these tasks quickly and asked for more to do, but there wasn't anything I could help with significantly due to being an intern. This came to a head in weeks 7&8 when I started organising shadowing days to sit with other departments as I was quite bored being stuck in a department with nothing to do. However, everyone at Tesco are very willing to accommodate the interns, so I was able to use my experience effectively and see other areas of the business instead of just sitting at my desk not being very productive.

Everyone was very generous with their time and encouraged us as interns to book time into their diaries to discuss relevant elements of our projects, help with our understanding of the company and to find out about their personal career at Tesco too. This surprised me as everyone is very busy! But they still valued us equally as colleagues.

My manager was very supportive in the beginning of my project, and throughout periods of the 10 weeks. However on particularly busy weeks my manager was absent most of the time and I found myself alone in the office a lot, having to get on with my project work. This was fine up until I exhausted all the work I could keep myself busy with and then I became a bit stuck and quite bored with nothing productive to be getting on with.

At the beginning of the project I was very busy, setting up meetings with people to gather the relevant data for my project, and learning more about the company. However as the weeks progressed I had less and less to do, and by week 8 I would ask my manager multiple times a day if there was anything I could help with. This may not be true for other interns whose projects were ongoing, as mine came to a conclusion early on in the 10 weeks.

Interns are given responsibility from the beginning; the projects are all valuable to the teams they are for, but it is often a side project that the teams have managed without insofar. Some managers are more overbearing than others, but my manager left a lot of the organising to me, such as arranging the store placement days, which some interns had their managers do for them.

I have gained lots of commercial awareness and knowledge into the operations of a large company that will be useful. My project involved a lot of excel, so these technical skills have been improved through learning simple shortcuts that make formulae more efficient. Communication skills, confidence and time management are key skills that this internship has enhanced further.The internship has been useful as it has consolidated what career path I want to take in the future.

Everyone is so friendly at Tesco! However the team I was with is spread across two floors, and I was sat with my manager and the other senior members, which meant that I was often the only one at the desk for the whole day as they were in and out of meetings. This meant I didn't get much interaction with other members of the team, including the grads, and felt a bit isolated, but this is due to the layout of my department, and other interns sat with their whole teams so I was juts unlucky. However, seeking out the other interns at lunch and for catch ups made the overall experience more enjoyable as they were equally sociable and had a few gripes about their placements too!

The centrally organised activities were very well executed - such as the induction days, and lunchtime personal development sessions, which included fairly useful content, but provided more of a social setting to see all the interns across the company. The actual projects themselves were semi-organised; my manager had a vague plan of my project but seemed unsure of the specifics, so a lot was trial and error. This was fine due to the nature of my project, but after it came to a conclusion it was evident that there wasn't much organisation to what I could be doing in the other 7 weeks, as I just helped with daily tasks and created the occasional graph to help with a presentation, so making sure that there is a contingency plan if some projects are expected to take less than 10 weeks is an area that could be improved massively.

The apprenticeship and grad team provided lunchtime sessions that looked at Networking, Mind Talk and Excel Skills, which were centrally organised for all the interns. I went on an excel course at the end of my first week "to help with my project", but it was mainly due to my manger going on holiday before I could be settled in properly, and therefore not usually offered to finance interns, although I found it very useful.

Tesco have a culture where it is normal for people to move around every 18-24 months, and searching for the next opportunity is encouraged. The future employment prospects for interns is the grad scheme, which is very structured within finance (3 year rotation while gaining CIMA), but less so for other internships.

Having lunch with the interns everyday was a highlight as it was a welcomed break from the office. Occasionally went for drinks in London on a Friday, however lots of interns stayed locally or were staying with friends in London so generally had plans for after work already/ had very busy weekends planned to maximise social life when giving up most of your summer holidays! The interns staying locally in Welwyn met more frequently as there is not much to do in WGC at all.

Cost of living depends if you have to relocate for the 10 weeks- Welwyn Garden City is a commuter town, and other interns stayed further out in Hatfield and Hereford too. The canteen is fairly cheap but can bring your own food. Travel is expensive if you are coming in from further, and Tesco don't reimburse as you are being paid to work there. Socialising in one of the two pubs in WGC is common, however more expensive when head into London which is more popular.

No nightlife in Welwyn garden city, there isn't much going on in the daytime either (if planning to stay locally); the high-street is completely dead but has most common shops. Close to London so that is the only option really, so depends if your intern cohort is sociable, or if you have friends nearby.

Joining football and netball teams were an option, and the annual Race for Life took place in the third week here which we could fundraise and take part in for the afternoon. On site gym, but classes throughout day could conflict with the working day. The Charity Challenge is another way to get involved in activities outside of work, as intern teams organised pub quizzes and bake sales etc to raise money in competition with each other.